PK80 Tournament Companion App

Inspiration

Our team discovered that we were all very goal and challenge oriented so we thought it would be most interesting if we tackled one of the challenges that they had laid out for us. We had a good mix of technical and artistic abilities on our team so we decided to try to make an app for Phil Knight's 80th birthday basketball tournament.

What it does

Our app is an all-in-one experience for the PK80 tournament. We designed it to enhance the spectator experience by providing live coverage, directions to and from the venue and some of Portland's best Dining and Entertainment options. For those spectating from elsewhere, we ensured access to live scores was accessible, a window into the live twitter and news feed relevant to the team being cheered for from afar. We added social media features to entice younger users, but also kept the interface simple for older users as well.

How we built it

We started off by brainstorming a huge list of ideas for the app and what we wanted it to do. We also decided what demographic we wanted to target in order to maximize users and profit. Then, we started to build the foundations with Adobe Illustrator and Android Studio. Almost everyone in our group lacked experience in Android Studio, so we had to learn it on the fly. Our artists spent a lot of time designing a majority of the artwork in our app and the developers overcame many obstacles to reach a functional prototype.

Challenges we ran into

One of the largest challenges we ran into was not having very much experience in Android development. It was a learning experience and we utilized mentors a great deal in order to get the most out of our time here. Another problem we ran into was only having one computer that could run Android Studio effectively, so it required us to work slower but also more collaboratively.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

For our developers, the greatest accomplishment was having a functional app by Sunday morning. At first we didn't think we had time to make anything but a linear demonstration, but after a lot of time developing, we made it so that you can go anywhere in the app at any time. Our artists were very proud of the work they did and the images turned out to be beautiful. They were able to make a stunning UI, even if we had to cut back on some features due to time constraints.

What we learned

We all learned how to be better team members and leaders. We coordinated ourselves really well and learned a lot along the way. We each had our specialty coming in, but through working together, we each learned something that's not even related to what we usually do. Whether it was business, tech, or art, we all learned something unique and the mentors taught us a lot along the way too.

What's next for PK80 App

The next steps for the PK80 app include presenting it to the judges today, adding more features and functionality, and using it as a tool to continue learning and improving our own skills.